C:\Users\administrator>w32tm /stripchart /computer:time.windows.com /samples:5 /dataonly
Tracking time.windows.com [65.55.56.111:123].
Collecting 5 samples.
The current time is 05/09/2011 16:47:27.
16:47:27, error: 0x800705B4
16:47:30, error: 0x800705B4
16:47:33, error: 0x800705B4
16:47:36, error: 0x800705B4
16:47:39, error: 0x800705B4

Since this was showing an error trying to get the time, I checked it against one of the UK time servers and got the following result:

C:\Users\administrator>w32tm /stripchart /computer:0.uk.pool.ntp.org /samples:5 /dataonly
Tracking 0.uk.pool.ntp.org [195.59.148.18:123].
Collecting 5 samples.
The current time is 05/09/2011 16:49:46.
16:49:46, -661.4346981s
16:49:49, -661.4415467s
16:49:51, -661.4392247s
16:49:53, -661.4351922s
16:49:55, -661.4401522s

This showed that there was a clear time skew taking place. So the best course was to reset the time source to a known good source using the following commands:

w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:0.uk.pool.ntp.org /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

net stop w32time

net start w32time

Now a quick check shows that now that we are keeping much better time:

C:\Users\administrator>w32tm /stripchart /computer:0.uk.pool.ntp.org /samples:5 /dataonly
Tracking 0.uk.pool.ntp.org [109.74.206.120:123].
Collecting 5 samples.
The current time is 05/09/2011 16:49:47.
16:49:47, +00.0726604s
16:49:49, +00.0008012s
16:49:51, +00.0017108s
16:49:53, -00.0007301s
16:49:56, +00.0486631s

Not too sure if this is affecting everyone but there does seem to be a trend, hopefully this will help others.

- Rob

Essentially we setup our new SBS 2011 Standard server using all of the MS consoles and wizards including the wizard to created the email address domain. After a few days I found that we could not send any outbound emails from devices that were using AirSync, these included Windows 7 Phones; iPhones; Windows Phones; iPads as well as a host of other devices that connect to Exchange using AirSync (formally ActiveSync). There is a great deal of information about this but all of it related to having an invalid character in the domain name. However, having checked through the setup there were not illegal characters in the domain name yet we continued to get the same error.

What I found was that when you setup an ‘Accepted Domain’ the wizard will ask for a name as part of the wizard. This has traditionally been a descriptive name however this is where the issue seems to lie. In our case, what I did was changed the name to be the same as the domain name and it now works correctly.

Hopefully this should help others.

- Rob

1. Go to Start > All Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (or 2008) > Configuration Tools > SQL Server Configuration Manager
2. Now navigate through the tree on the left side to “SQL Server Network Configuration” and select “Protocols for MSSQLServer”
3. From the right pane ensure that “Named Pipes” is enabled
   
4. Once it has been enabled then you can restart the service “SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER)”
5. Now check the Sharepoint website to confirm that it is working again.

These steps resolved the issue on our server so I hope this will help others resolve their issue.

- Rob


Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.Powershell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
try
{
  $today = (Get-Date -Format dd-MM-yyyy)
# Created the a new directory with todays date and store in a variable
  [IO.Directory]::CreateDirectory("F:\sp_backup\"+$today)
  $backuppath = "F:\sp_backup\"+$today

# This will iterate through all of your sharepoint sites and create a backup with the site URL as the name 
  Get-SPWebApplication | Get-SPSite | ForEach-Object{$filepath = $backuppath + "\" + $_.Url.Replace("http://","").Replace("/","-").Replace(":","-") + ".bak" ; Backup-SPSite -Identity $_.Url -Path $filepath}

# Edit this address to suit your own needs 
  $emailFrom = "Sharepoint@server.local"

# This is the address that the notification email should be sent to 
  $emailTo = "administrator@server.local"

# Subject for the notification email. The + "$today" part will add the date in the subject.
  $subject = "The SharePoint sites Backup was Successful for "+"$today"

# Body or the notification email. The + "$today" part will add the date in the subject.
  $body = "The SharePoint sites Backup was Successful for "+"$today"

  # IP address of your SMTP server. Make sure relay Is enabled for the SharePoint server on your SMTP server
  $smtpServer = "1.1.1.1"
  $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
  $smtp.Send($emailFrom, $emailTo, $subject, $body)
}
Catch
{
  $ErrorMessage = $_.Exception.Message
  # Configure the below parameters as per the above.
  $emailFrom = "Sharepoint@server.local"
  $emailTo = "administrator@server.local"
  $subject = "The SharePoint sites Backup Job failed on "+"$today"
  $body = "The SharePoint sites Backup Job failed on "+"$today and the reason for failure was $ErrorMessage."
  $smtpServer = "1.1.1.1"
  $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer)
  $smtp.Send($emailFrom, $emailTo, $subject, $body)
}

This script can simply be copied into notepad and saved onto your server as a ".ps1" file. This can then be run straight from the servers "run" command by entering "powershell {scriptname}.ps1" and it will create a backup file, this in turn can be used to created a scheduled task on your server to be run each day/week etc.

Credit where due though, this script is a combination of the following 2 sources:

http://thecommunicator.co.cc/2010/12/07/automated-powershell-script-to-backup-sharepoint-farm-or-site-collection-with-email-notification/

http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=56f96349-3bb6-4087-94f4-7f95ff4ca81f&ID=191&Web=48e6fdd1-17db-4543-b2f9-6fc7185484fc

Hopefully this will help others out there

- Rob

Having configured it for remote use it was great but it was still a little clunky as I needed to be online to do anything (I could work through Outlook but it is not too pretty IMHO)..then I discovered Microsoft Sharepoint Workspace, formally Groove. The only real drawback about it is that you can only get it with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 which is only available through Microsoft Volume Licensing, a real over sight by Microsoft in my opinion. That said, if you do have it then use it!!

As standard, Sharepoint Foundation 2010 does not work when you click the link in the library that says "Sync to Sharepoint Workspace" you get the message:

SharePoint Workspace was unable to interpret the SharePoint location. Please check and ensure the location contains no typing errors.

This is due to a change which needs to be made on the Sharepoint server to make it work, follow the link below to resolve the issue:

http://weblogs.asp.net/jeffwids/archive/2010/05/06/configuring-sharepoint-foundation-2010-for-sharepoint-workspace-2010.aspx

If you have Sharepoint setup on a none standard port then ensure that you have it specified at the end of the URL.

- Rob

• First open Internet Information Service Manager on the server and check that the website “OfficeScan” exists. Now close the Internet Information Service Manager.
• Now open a command prompt and change to the “Trend Micro\Security Server\PCCSRV” folder
• Now type “svrsvcsetup.exe -uninstall” and wait for this to complete, it could take a number of minutes.
• Now open Internet Information Service Manager on the server and check that the website “OfficeScan” no longer exists. Now close the Internet Information Service Manager.
• Now type the following commands pressing enter after each one:
  • svrsvcsetup -install
  • svrsvcsetup -setvirdir
  • svrsvcsetup -setprivilege
  • svrsvcsetup -enablessl
• Now restart the following services using the Services Applet:
  • Trend Micro Security Server Master Service
  • IIS Admin Service
  • World Wide Web Publishing Service

Now if you try to access the console you should be able to log on to the console successfully.

This worked for us each time, so I hope it’ll work for others too.

- Rob